Well, yea they do. I'm not saying the downside of oil isn't extreme, but the upside of cheap oil is incredible. It gets a little esoteric pretty quickly, but there are dozens and dozens of books that trace the rise of our civilization to the discovery of oil and what it can do. More technological advances in the past generation than in the total of the 100 generations before it? You have to ask what changed? Lots of very bright people think it was oil.Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore
Think of it this way: a barrel of oil has an energy equivalent of ~24,000 man hours of labor. That's SIX HUNDRED WEEKS at the all American pace of 40 hours a week. And all for under $100 with no need for food/clothing/shelter. Every one of us benefits from that and, because it is so versatile and portable, it is irreplaceable. So far we don't have anything even close. I'm all for changing the world, but we have to be realistic about what we're up against to do it.
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